The present disclosure relates to a programmable amplifier, and more particularly to a programmable amplifier capable of programmably changing a gain-frequency profile such as boosting high-frequency signals relative to low-frequency signals.
Analog amplifiers are incorporated into a vast number of devices used in everyday life. For example, analog amplifiers are used in automobile engines, cellular telephones, magnetic hard disk drives, fiber optic communication systems and even children's toys.
Unfortunately, analog amplifiers often suffer from such performance shortfalls as limited dynamic range and distortion in the presence of heavy output loads. Further, analog amplifiers are subject to a trade-off between available voltage gain and frequency bandwidth. This trade-off, often referred to as the amplifier's “gain-bandwidth product,” may remain nearly constant over the operating range of the amplifier. Thus, an increase in gain may decrease the bandwidth of the amplifier, while an increase in bandwidth may require a decrease in gain. As a result, for a given fixed gain, important high-frequency signal components of an amplified signal may be attenuated relative to low-frequency components. Transducers and electronic transmission equipment coupled to the input of an amplifier may also vary substantially in both their sensitivity and bandwidth, both due to manufacturing process variations and as a response to environmental circumstances. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that, either due to the internal or external factors discussed above, a particular analog amplifier may produce an output signal with its high-frequency components excessively attenuated to the detriment of the system incorporating the amplifier.